Numbers of the BULLETIN OF THE FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM are pub-
lished at irregular intervals. Volumes contain about 300 pages and are not nec-
essarily completed in any one calendar year.

WALTER AUFFENBERG, Managing Editor

OLIVER L. AUSTIN, JR., Editor

Consultants for this issue:
John M. Legler

Jay M. Savage

Communications concerning purchase or exchange of the publication and all man-
uscripts should be addressed to the Managing Editor of the Bulletin, Florida State
Museum, Seagle Building, Gainesville, Florida.

1 The author was formerly professor of zoology at Augusta College in Georgia.
Since 1949 he has worked independently conducting researches in Central and
South America and in Florida where he now lives, largely on the biology of rep-
tiles and amphibians. His "Historical Biogeography of Present-day Florida" ap-
peared in this Bulletin in 1957. Manuscript received 15 October 1964-Ed.

In the summer of 1962 Thomas P. C. Monath and a party of
friends collected amphibians and reptiles in British Honduras. The
material they obtained was deposited in the' Museum of Compara-
tive Zoology at Harvard College and, through the kindness of Dr.
Ernest E. Williams, was sent to me for study. The present paper
analyzes this material, as well as pertinent specimens in the collec-
tions of the University of Florida and in my own collection.
Also included in the discussion are certain lizards and snakes,
originally collected for a study of their protozoan parasites, and given
to the Museum of Comparative Zoology by Major R. Hill. These
reptiles were taken within a 10-mile radius of Central Farm, an
agricultural station at Baking Pot, Cayo District, British Honduras.
Major Hill's specimens are listed herein as from "Vicinity of Bak-
ing Pot."
Distances, directions, and place names in British Honduras were
determined from the following maps: War Office GSGS 4767, Sheets
1-3, Edition 1; Surveyor General's 1933 map of forest types in British
Honduras; Surveyor General's undated map of the entire country;
the end map in Anderson (1958); and the detailed maps of the Direc-

NEILL: REPTILES FROM BRITISH HONDURAS

torate of Overseas Survey, Series 449 and Misc. 8. A map (Fig. 8)
shows localities mentioned in the present article.
Collecting dates have been omitted except where they provide
information relating to seasonal activity or to the timing of repro-
ductive cycles, but collectors' field notes pertaining to habits or habi-
tat have generally been included.
Elsewhere I have categorized the major plant communities of
British Honduras with special reference to the occurrence of am-
phibians and reptiles (Neill, 1960b; Neill and Allen, 1959a). These
communities have been considered in detail by Bartlett (1935), Char-
ter (1941), and Lundell (1934, 1937, 1940). My remarks here on hab-
itats or on habits relate solely to British Honduras, and all localities
mentioned are in British Honduras unless otherwise noted.
Herpetological collections have been abbreviated as follows:
CNHM = Chicago Natural History Museum; MCZ Museum of
Comparative Zoology; UF = University of Florida; WTN =- Wil-
fred T. Neill.
It is sometimes stated that the herpetofauna of British Honduras
is virtually identical with that of the adjoining Guatemalan depart-
ment, El Peten. While many species inhabit both regions, at least
18 amphibians and reptiles not reported from El Peten have been
taken in British Honduras, and each collecting trip to British Hon-
duras has revealed distributional and taxonomic phenomena that
could not have been anticipated from the Guatemalan literature. It
is felt that further studies in British Honduras will be useful; such
studies are in progress.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am especially indebted to Dr. Ernest E. Williams of the Museum
of Comparative Zoology for conveying to me the material taken by
the Monath party. Thanks are also due to the personnel of that
party-Messrs. Thomas P. C. Monath, John Monath, Michael Touff,
John French, William Russell, Jeff MacNelly, and Robert Burgess-
for their efforts. My thanks are likewise extended to Dr. Walter
Auffenberg of the Florida State Museum for permission to examine
material in his care; to Mrs. Anne M. Rick of the National Museum
of Canada for bringing to my attention the material she collected at
Tikal; to Mr. Ross Allen of Silver Springs, Florida, for his encourage-
ment of my British Honduras studies; and to Mr. Anthony Wolffsohn
of the British Honduras Forestry Department for specimens and in-
formation.
On behalf of the Monath party I wish to thank Messrs. A. Frith
and 0. N. D. Phillips of the British Honduras Forestry Department
for permission to collect and to use the rest house at Augustine; the
Belize Estates and Produce Company, and especially Mr. Colin
Brooks, for permission to collect on company property and for the
use of company guest houses, as well as for assistance in obtaining
guides and transportation; Mr. Don Owen-Lewis, formerly Amerin-
dian Development Agent in Toledo District, for arranging a stay in
certain Kekchi villages; Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Burgess, of the Amer-
ican Consulate at Belize, for their hospitality and for many favors;
and Dr. Williams for encouragement and support of the trip.
Finally, on behalf of the Museum of Comparative Zoology I
should like to thank Major R. Hill, formerly of Central Farm, for the
gift of reptiles taken in that vicinity.

side lagoon at night, with Bufo v. valliceps. Cayo District: MCZ 37907-12, west-
ern side of Mountain Pine Ridge, 31 July 1962, on rocks bordering Belize River,
calling by night. Stann Creek District: MCZ 37913-14, Mango Creek, under
street light at night. Toledo District: MCZ 37993-99, San Pedro Columbia,
around houses in Indian village.
Juveniles of the Central American giant toad have not been de-
scribed, and most keys will not identify them correctly. MCZ 37913,
snout-vent length 40 mm., might at first be taken for some other spe-
cies. Cranial crests are absent; the parotoid gland lacks conspicuous
pores, bears instead a few tubercles, is colored about like the re-
mainder of the dorsum, and is smaller than the side of the head.
Most of the under surfaces are spotted or marbled with gray on a
white background, and there is a conspicuous black interorbital band.
The hind limbs appear relatively small and weak. All these are juve-
nile characters. A somewhat larger toad, MCZ 37914, snout-vent
length 60 mm., shows better development of the diagnostic features
of the adult. Cranial crests are present although weakly developed,
the parotoid is proportionately larger (although still smaller than the
side of the head), the under surfaces are not dark-spotted, the inter-
orbital band is less pronounced, and the hind limbs are proportion-
ately somewhat stouter although not so stout as in the adult.

Bufo valliceps valliceps Wiegmann
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Corozal District: MCZ 37920-22, Corozal, in shade or
under ground debris near houses; MCZ 37923, 3 miles south of Corozal, in wet,
dead brush bordering track through canefield. Orange Walk District: MCZ
37943-44, Hill Bank, on dock at lagoon; MCZ 37924-25 (19 specimens), 37945-54,
within 8 mile radius of Gallon Jug, under ground debris or in rain puddles, in
town or along roads. Cayo District: MCZ 37955, 4 miles south of Cayo, in cow
pasture at night, in rain; MCZ 37956, Augustine, in pool of creek; MCZ 37957-
58 (31 specimens, mostly tadpoles and newly transformed individuals), western
side of Mountain Pine Ridge, 1 August 1962, beside Belize River or in streamside
pools. Stann Creek District: MCZ 37959-66, 3 miles south of Waha Leaf Creek,
3 August 1962, in grass at camp, on road at night, or calling in pool at night;
MCZ 37967-78, 4 miles south of Waha Leaf Creek, in roadside rain puddles by
day; MCZ 37979, 5 miles southwest of Mango Creek, in puddles along road.
Toledo District: MCZ 37980-82, 2 miles west of Swasey Branch, in wet pine
savanna; MCZ 37984-90, along road between Swasey Branch and Bladen Branch;
MCZ 37983, 3 miles west of Swasey Branch, in puddle of road; MCZ 37991-99,
San Pedro Columbia, in swampy area by creek; WTN 687, Old Toledo Settle-
ment, under log in damp pasture; WTN 957-62, Punta Gorda, coastal flats be-
side brackish channels; WTN 1492-94, 1522-23, 2452, Columbia Branch Camp,
around camp clearings in wooded region.
WTN 957-62, from supratidal habitats at Punta Gorda, may rep-
resent a distinct form. The 6 specimens range in snout-vent length

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from 42 to 72 mm., are all very dark, show little trace of pattern, and
have proportionately large heads. Toads from nearby inland areas,
such as Old Toledo Settlement and Columbia Branch Camp, agree
more closely with the norm of Bufo v. valliceps. A decision as to the
status of the Punta Gorda population cannot be made until more is
known of both geographic and individual variation in the valliceps
complex. Probably several subspecies are recognizable within the
currently designated range of Bufo v. valliceps.

LEPTODACTYLIDAE
Eleutherodactylus rostralis (Werner)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: MCZ 37847, 2 miles north of
Gallon Jug, in leaf litter of mahogany forest, at least a mile from any river or
pond.
I follow Duellman (1963: 222) in applying the name Eleutherodac-
tylus rostralis to the local representative of the E. gollmeri complex
in northern Central America. Previous British Honduras records
(Schmidt, 1941: 483) identify the frog as E. rhodopis (Cope).
Smith (1959: 211-212) has made a start toward classification of pat-
tern phases in this variable species (as Eleutherodactylus rhodopis).
MCZ 37847 agrees with Smith's variety A 1, except for the presence
of a single quadrangular blotch on the dorsum.

Eleutherodactylus rugulosus rugulosus (Cope)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Toledo District: WTN 1495, Columbia Branch Camp, on
road overlooking Columbia Branch, by night.
Snout-vent length 27 mm. First finger slightly longer than sec-
ond. Toes with vestigial web. A lateral glandular fold. A short,
oblique dermal fold behind each eye. A dermal fold overhanging
the tympanum. Tarsal fold extending about three-fourths the length
of the tarsus. Tibiotarsal articulation extending slightly beyond tip
of snout when hind limb is adpressed. Posterior surface of thigh
(in preservative) grayish, with irregular yellowish mottling and with
a few larger, well-defined yellowish spots. Throat light. Lips with
4 vertical dark bars, these separated by light interspaces.
The species has not previously been reported from British Hon-
duras. It has been taken about 100 miles west by south of Columbia
Branch Camp near the Alta Verapaz-El Peten border, Guatemala
(Duellman, 1963: 223). The habitat in British Honduras is typical;
Columbia Branch is a moderately swift, rocky stream bordered in
many places by limestone outcroppings.

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Eleutherodactylus laticeps (Dumeril)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 38000, 5 miles north of Millionario,
in grass at roadside puddle, by day.
The identity of Eleutherodactylus laticeps (Dumeril, 1853:179)
has been uncertain. The name was based on a single specimen taken
by P. M. A. Morelet in "Yucatan, Central America." Schmidt (1941:
483) described E. stantoni on the basis of two specimens from Val-
entin, Cayo District, British Honduras, but suggested that it might
prove to be laticeps. Firschein (1951) undertook to show that lati-
ceps and stantoni were different species. His concept of laticeps was
based upon a single frog from Palenque ruins in the tropical rain-
forest of Chiapas, Mexico, and notes on the century-old type of un-
certain source. His concept of stantoni was based upon a single frog
from Finca Chichen in the subtropical cloud forest of Alta Verapaz,
Guatemala, and Schmidt's two specimens from British Honduras.
Firschein, and Stuart (1948: 25) before him, were hesitant in refer-
ring the cloud forest individual to stantoni.
MCZ 38000 agrees closely with Schmidt's description of Eleuth-
erodactylus stantoni, with a few unimportant exceptions. A fold, ex-
tending backward along the side from the supratympanic fold, is
weakly defined ("well-defined" according to Schmidt). Dorsally the
fine rugosity of the skin extends onto the top of the head ("top of
head smooth"). The forearm and the angle of the jaws are coarsely
spotted with black ("finely spotted with brown" in the type after
years of preservation). I would describe the loreal region as de-
cidedly, not "slightly", concave, and the digital disks as medium, not
"small;" but these differences are probably terminological.
The type of Eleutherodactylus laticeps and the Chiapas frog
Firschein referred to laticeps were said to have a "transverse scapular
fold," a structure supposedly lacking in the Alta Verapaz frog and not
mentioned by Schmidt in his description of stantoni. This fold, at
least on gross examination, is not glandular but cutaneous, a wrinkling
of the skin. MCZ 38000, preserved with the head bent over and the
dorsal skin tightly stretched, at first seemed to show no trace of this
fold. However, when the frog's head was tipped up, releasing the
tension on the dorsal skin, the fold made its appearance just as in
the Chiapas individual. The fold may be seen in the accompanying
photograph of MCZ 38000 (Fig. 1).
Firschein held that the legs were longer in Eleutherodactylus
stantoni than in E. laticeps. In British Honduras specimens the tips
of the fingers and the heel of the adpressed hind limb extend past the

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snout, whereas in the Palenque frog and in the type of laticeps they
do not. However, this condition reflects an enlarged head in the two
latter individuals. In several species of Eleutherodactylus certain old
individuals are characterized by an enlarged head (Schmidt, 1941:
484). It is probably significant that the Palenque specimen and the
type of laticeps both exceed 71 mm. in snout-vent length; whereas
the three British Honduras examples (Schmidt's type and paratype;
MCZ 38000) measure respectively 52, 53, and 56 mm.
Schmidt described only the more outstanding features of the pat-
tern in his two specimens of Eleutherodactylus stantoni. The same

features are present in the Palenque frog. MCZ 38000 agrees with
the Palenque laticeps even to some minute details of pattern: dorsal
coloration gray-brown in alcohol; venter white with sparse spottings
of brown on lateral areas of throat; areas immediately lateral to the
outer margins of the ventral disk gray-brown with but slight indica-
tion of spotting; no posterior thigh reticulation; a washed brown area
of small maculations on anteroventral surface of thigh; upper sur-
faces of legs weakly barred; under surface of tarsus and foot dark;
a dark stripe on under side of antebrachium extending along outer
margin of palm to disk of outer finger; antebrachium with a blackish
spot, more distinct than any other dark marking; margin of upper
jaw with indistinct, somewhat interrupted white line; side of head
with a dark band beginning near tip of snout, involving the loreal
region, extending posteriorly through eye, behind the eye following
the supratympanic fold, terminating behind and on line with lower
edge of tympanum; tympanum brownish.
The locality where MCZ 38000 was taken is not more than 18
miles east-northeast of Valentin, the type locality of Eleutherodacty-
lus stantoni, and in the same uninterrupted expanse of forested hills.
The specimen shows the transverse scapular fold supposedly diag-
nostic of E. laticeps, and agrees with the Palenque laticeps in minute
details of pattern. It differs from the Chiapan and holotypic laticeps
only in an individually variable character, degree of enlargement of
the head. Accordingly E. stantoni Schmidt is reduced to the synon-
ymy of E. laticeps (Dumeril).
Until more specimens are taken, the status of the Alta Verapaz
frog must remain unsettled. In view of its geographic and ecological
isolation, it will probably not prove to be Eleutherodactylus laticeps.
MCZ 38000 had swallowed a large katydid.

Syrrhophus leprus cholorum new subspecies
TYPE. WTN 1525 (to be deposited in the collection of the Uni-
versity of Florida), adult male. Collected 3.9 miles north of San
Antonio, Toledo District, British Honduras, 28 October 1959; Ross
Allen, Thomas C. Allen, and Wilfred T. Neill, collectors.
DIAGNOSIS. Differing from Syrrhophus 1. leprus in color and pat-
tern. Dorsal ground color tan in life, chocolate brown in preserva-
tive; dorsum with about 20 to 30 very dark brown rounded spots
which are mostly discrete. In S. 1. leprus the darker dorsal markings
are largely confluent, restricting the lighter areas to vermiculations
of yellowish-green.

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REMARKS. Elsewhere I have described the type specimen in de-
tail (Neill and Allen, 1961a: 43). Additional examples are WTN 3405-
06, from Columbia Branch Camp, Toledo District. They do not differ
significantly from the type.
All specimens were found at night on dirt roads in a well-forested
area with shale outcroppings nearby.
Individuals from TikMl, El Peten, Guatemala (Duellman, 1958: 8),
and from the Alta Verapaz-El Peten border about 100 miles west by
south of Columbia Branch Camp (Duellman, 1963: 223), seem refer-
able to Syrrhophus 1. leprus Cope. S. 1. cholorum is probably con-
fined to the region south of the Maya Mountains uplift in British
Honduras.
I follow Firschein (1954) in applying the name Syrrhophus to a
compact group of frogs inhabiting Mexico and nearby regions. S.
leprus cholorum is the southernmost member of this genus.
The name cholorum alludes to a relict Indian group, the Chol,
a few individuals of whom live near the type locality of the new
subspecies.
Leptodactylus labialis (Cope)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: MCZ 37863, Gallon Jug, from rain
puddle in road, by night. Stann Creek District: MCZ 37864-66 (transforming
or newly transformed individuals), 4 miles south of Waha Leaf Creek, 4 August
1962, in roadside rain puddles, by day. Toledo District: MCZ 37867, 1 mile east
of Swasey Branch, in roadside puddle, by day; MCZ 37872, 2 miles west of
Swasey Branch, in area of wet pine savanna.
MCZ 37863 and 37872 are adult males with a prominent shelf
around the margin of the upper jaw. Noble (1954: 120) stated that
in species of this genus the shelf develops only during the breeding
season. Certainly in Leptodactylus labialis the structure character-
izes only the fully adult male, but there is no indication that the shelf
vanishes after the frog has bred.
Although Leptodactylus labialis is thought to range from southern
Texas southward at least into Panama, it has not been reported from
a number of large intervening areas. It was but recently discovered
in northern British Honduras (Fugler, 1960: 9; Neill and Allen, 1961a:
38-39), and the present specimens extend the known range into the
southern part of the country.

camp; MCZ 37877-78, 4 miles south of Waha Leaf Creek, in shady, creek-fed
swamp, by day; MCZ 37880-83, 2 miles south of Waha Leaf Creek, 4 August
1962, the largest specimen calling at dusk from roadside puddle in pine savanna;
MCZ 37884, Mango Creek, in street puddle, by day.
Elsewhere I noted the orange color of certain ventral glandular
areas in some Leptodactylus melanonotus from British Honduras
(Neill and Allen, 1961a: 41). These areas are also orange or yellow-
ish-brown in the only adult specimen in the series MCZ 37880-83.
No British Honduras example has been seen with blackish ventral
glands as Duellman (1961: 31-32) described in the closely related
L. occidentalis.
HYLIDAE
Hyla microcephala martini Smith
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: WTN 2809-11, Orange Walk, in
loosely covered water drums beside houses, during the dry season. Cayo District:
MCZ 37885-92, Norris Ranch, 4 miles south of Cayo, 28 July 1962, on leaves of
"eel-grass" (collector's field notes) during a rainy night.
In MCZ 37885-92 the dorsal ground color in preservative is a
light pinkish-orange. The thighs are unpigmented except at the knee.
The dorsal pattern consists of brownish lines forming an X-shaped
(4 specimens) or an irregular mark on the anterior part of the dorsum.
There is also a somewhat broken but generally transverse brownish
line on the posterior part of the dorsum. A lateral dark line extends
from near the tip of the snout posteriorly about two-thirds the length
of the body and then swings upward to fuse with the posterior dorsal
marking. In the only female specimen the lateral dark line is better
defined than in the males, and is light-bordered above from near the
tip of the snout to a point just behind the tympanum.
The males of the MCZ series show collapsed vocal sacs. Evi-
dently the frogs were taken from a breeding aggregation.

Hyla picta (Giinther)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 37893-95, Norris Ranch, 4 miles
south of Cayo, 28 July 1962, on leaves of "eel-grass" during a rainy night.
The specimens in preservative are a medium pinkish-brown. The
characteristic dorsolateral white stripe is bordered weakly above and
strongly below with dark brown. Vomerine teeth are lacking.
The largest example measures 20.6 mm. in snout-vent length;
it is a female with eggs showing through the body wall. The other
two are males with prominent vocal sacs. Evidently the specimens
were taken from a breeding aggregation.

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The species has not been reported previously from British Hon-
duras.
Hyla staufferi Cope
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 37896-97, Norris Ranch, 4 miles
south of Cayo, 28 July 1962, on leaves of "eel-grass" during a rainy night. Stann
Creek District: MCZ 37898, 3 miles south of Waha Leaf Creek, in grass around
road construction camp.
MCZ 37898 is a female containing eggs; MCZ 37896-97 are males
with prominent vocal sacs. The latter specimens were accompanied
by Hyla picta and H. microcephala martini, all three species appar-
ently breeding.
Phrynohyas spilomma (Cope)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Corozal District: MCZ 37899, 2 miles south of Corozal,
7 July 1962, resting on branch of tree in scrubby forest patch near canefield.
Belize District: WTN 729, 4 miles west of Boom.
Other British Honduras specimens I have examined I have listed
elsewhere (Neill and Allen, 1959a: 24-26; 1959b: 235-236). In this
country the dorsal pattern varies considerably. The dark dorsal
patch may be (1) fairly well defined, broadly interrupted in the
sacral region by a regular, transverse band of light color, as in Phry-
nohyas inflata; (2) fairly well defined, very narrowly interrupted by
an irregular light band; (3) well defined, continuing without inter-
ruption to vent; (4) fairly well defined, uninterrupted, but centrally
lightened with pale brown, and bearing many circular spots of dark
brown in the pale area; (5) almost absent anterior to a brown trans-
verse sacral band; or (6) reduced to a negligible scattering of black
dots, somewhat as in P. modest. When the dark dorsal band is
reduced in intensity, the intensity of the limb bands is reduced to
a comparable degree.
Fugler (1960: 10) reported a range extension for Phrynohyas mo-
desta (Taylor and Smith), on the basis of one specimen from "Melina"
(Melinda) Forestry Station, a savanna area in northeastern Stann
Creek District. The frog differed from usual modest in being more
profusely warted, like P. spilomma. A male 66 mm. in snout-vent
length, it is exceptionally large for a modest and very close to the
average size of spilomma males in British Honduras. I have not seen
the Melinda example, but suspect it to be another nearly patternless
spilomma. P. modest in Central America seems confined to the
Pacific slope, and for the present should not be included in the
British Honduras herpetofaunal list.
In British Honduras Phrynohyas spilomma has been found only

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in the drier and more open habitats: savanna, scrubby woodland,
cleared land, beach with coconut trees, and around buildings.

Smilisca baudinii (Dumeril and Bibron)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: MCZ 37848-55, Gallon Jug, 20-22
July 1962, in trees by day, in puddles or wet grass by night, some males calling.
Cayo District: MCZ 37856, Norris Ranch, 4 miles south of Cayo, in cow pasture
on rainy night; MCZ 37857-58, western edge of Mountain Pine Ridge, on rock or
in pool beside Belize River. Stann Creek District: MCZ 37859, 3 miles south of
Waha Leaf Creek, 3 August 1962, calling beside rain puddle at night. Toledo
District: MCZ 37860-62, San Pedro Columbia, in swampy area near creek, by
night.
In British Honduras Smilisca baudinii may be a mimic of the
poisonous Phrynohyas spilomma. In this country S. baudinii resem-
bles the local Phrynohyas in being brownish or grayish, usually with
an irregular dark marking on the dorsum of head and body. In south-
ern Texas, where no Phrynohyas occurs, S. baudinii is often marked
with yellow, green, fawn, or cinnamon; dorsal markings may be pres-
ent, but do not form a distinct blotch on the upper surfaces of head
and body.
I have suggested that Smilisca and Phrynohyas in British Hon-
duras tend to replace each other temporally by having their respec-
tive peaks of activity at different times of year (Neill and Allen, 1959a:
67). It is therefore interesting to note that in July and August the
Monath party found only one Phrynohyas, but took 15 Smilisca at
five scattered localities.
Several recent workers have referred to the Mexican treefrog as
"Smilisca b. baudinii," but the species is monotypic; Hyla b. dolo-
medes Barbour (1923: 11) is S. phaeota (Dunn, 1931: 413).

These specimens from south of the Maya Mountains do not ex-
hibit the characters ascribed to Rana pipiens austricola Cope, and for
the present the trinomial must be omitted.

GEKKONIDAE
Coleonyx elegans elegans Gray
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71405-06, vicinity of Baking Pot.
Toledo District: MCZ 71407-08, San Antonio, under logs in grassy field; WTN
1532, Columbia Branch Camp, on dirt road at night.
The specimens show no approach to Coleonyx mitratus (Peters)
of Honduras. The claw tips are concealed or barely showing; the
first infralabial is triangular; the postnasal depression is distinct.
Coleonyx e. elegans reaches a greater size than is generally real-
ized; in MCZ 71407 the snout-vent length is 91 mm. In large ex-
amples the dark borders of the transverse light dorsal bands are
widened, almost fusing with each other, and all the light markings
of the juvenile have become darkened to some degree.

Sphaerodactylus glaucus glaucus Cope
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: MCZ 71361, Gallon Jug, 21 July
1962, on side of house by day.
This very young individual shows the bright juvenile pattern.
It is interesting to note that the specimen was abroad by day, for in
British Honduras the drab adults are then quite secretive. In a
related species, Sphaerodactylus cinereus, the.brightly banded young
are often diurnal and the brownish adults are largely nocturnal.

Anolis humilis uniforms Cope
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71601, 3 miles north of Millionario,
on leaf litter of jungle floor beside logging road. Toledo District: MCZ 71602,
just west of Lubaantun Ruins near San Pedro Columbia, in thick rainforest amid
vines and bushes, near ground; MCZ 71603, just west of San Miguel, 3 miles
northeast of San Pedro Columbia, jumping on low vegetation in thick rainforest.
Elsewhere (Neill and Allen, 1959a: 42) I have suggested that the
axillary pocket of this anole serves to lure ectoparasitic mites away

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from more vulnerable areas such as the eyes, ear openings, or vent.
MCZ 71603 has mites in its axillary pockets.

Anolis limifrons rodriguezi Bocourt
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Corozal District: MCZ 71604-05, 2 miles southwest of
Corozal. on limbs of small trees in dense forest with heavy undergrowth and
lianas.
The yellow-fan anole has previously been reported only from
Belize and Cayo Districts; the present specimens are the first from
the northern part of the country.

Anolis lemurinus bourgeaei Bocourt
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: MCZ 71594-95, 8 miles north of
Gallon Jug, on muddy logging road or on sapling in rainforest; MCZ 71596-98,
Gallon Jug, on fence, stump, or tree, in town, field, or cow pasture; MCZ 71599,
half mile north of Gallon Jug, on ground in shady forest on side of steep hill.
Cayo District: MCZ 71593, vicinity of Baking Pot. Toledo District: MCZ 71600,
just west of Lubaantun Ruins near San Pedro Columbia, on vines and bushes
near ground.
The pattern varies greatly in the Gallon Jug area. One specimen
has five dark crossbars on the body; another has six such bars and
a light lateral stripe. Yet another lacks the crossbars but has a
straight-edged, rust-colored vertebral stripe, narrow dark bands form-
ing a zigzag down each side of the body, and light lines forming a
scalloped pattern on the hind part of the body adjacent to the verte-
bral stripe. Still another has a brown vertebral stripe with scalloped,
yellow-bordered edges; the sides of the body are gray, and there is
a lateral light stripe. Other variations exist in specimens from
Belize; and my "Anolis species" with a pattern like that of Basiliscus
vittatus (Neill and Allen, 1959a: 37) also is A. 1. bourgeaei.
The throat fan of the male is always red in life.

Anolis sagrei mayensis Smith and Burger
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Corozal District: MCZ 71468-503, Corozal, on dead vege-
tation, piles of coconut fronds, or tree trunks, around houses; MCZ 71466-67,
2 miles south of Corozal, in scrubby forest near canefield. Belize District: MCZ
71546-65, Ambergris Cay at San Pedro, on coconut palm trunks and surrounding
brush along beach; MCZ 71504-23, Ambergris Cay, 2 to 3 miles south of San
Pedro, on coconut palm trunks along beach; MCZ 71525-44, Ambergris Cay, 1
to 2 miles north of San Pedro, on coconut palm trunks and in dry leaves at their
bases; WTN 233-87, 758-801, 967-73, 1454-61, 1565-89, 1605-07, 1744-45, 1767,
Belize, on fences, buildings, and garden shrubs in town, or in red mangrove

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swamp, or around sedges on mud flats, or in strand vegetation. Stann Creek
District: MCZ 71566-82, 71584, 71586-92, Mango Creek, on boards and lumber
piles around sawmill; WTN 1462-68, Stann Creek, on fences in town. Toledo
District: WTN 975-78, 1985-2014, Punta Gorda, about yards, fences, and build-
ings.
In the large series from Corozal four females and one young are
patterned, though not brightly; the remaining 31 individuals, ranging
in snout-vent length from 24.6 to 59 mm., are uniformly dark, with-
out pattern. In the large series from San Pedro one female is pat-
terned, not brightly so; the remaining specimens, all adults, are uni-
formly dark and without pattern. The Mango Creek specimens,
like those from Corozal and San Pedro, are dark, patternless, and
of large size for Anolis sagrei. With the exception of MCZ 71466-67
which are very distinctly patterned, all the MCZ individuals agree
well with those from Stann Creek, Punta Gorda, and Belize described
elsewhere (Neill and Allen, 1962: 80-82).
Previously I noted (idem) that Anolis sagrei mayensis is not con-
fined to man-made situations but also occurs in natural supratidal
environments, and so may have been able to spread coastally from
one point of introduction. The present specimens bear this out;
they fill in several gaps of known distribution, nearly all closely re-
semble individuals from other British Honduras mainland localities,
and some were found in situations not of man-made origin.
The marked homogeneity of the mainland population is not con-
sistent with any theory of numerous separate introductions from the
West Indies; the wide distribution of this population and its several
unique features argue against its introduction in recent times. Of
course additional and relatively unsuccessful introductions may have
occurred later. MCZ 71466-67 somewhat resemble West Indian speci-
mens, as do certain individuals from outermost islands of the British
Honduras barrier reef.
Stuart (1955: 22) tentatively synonymized Anolis sagrei mayensis
with the Cuban A. s. sagrei, pending the acquisition of more infor-
mation about the Central American population. I have examined
the 299 British Honduras specimens cited above, and the following
339 Cuban examples of A. s. sagrei:
Habana Province: WTN 312-56, between Giiines and Playa de Rosario; WTN
725, Habana; WTN 1356-1431, Catalina de Giiines. Pifiar del Rio Province:
WTN 364-580, Rancho Mundito (formerly the Batista estate) near Consolaci6n
del Sur.

The Central American and the West Indian series are immediately
separable. The Cuban specimens are small, light in color, and

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almost always patterned. The British Honduras specimens attain
a much greater size, are much darker, and usually patternless. The
ground color of the throat fan is brick red or orange-red in Cuban
males, but a dark red, approximately garnet, in the British Honduras
males.
Thus it seems desirable to retain the name Anolis sagrei mayensis
for the mainland population. This taxonomic arrangement is bio-
geographically defensible, the distributional pattern having counter-
parts among other organisms. Thus the West Indian gekkonid genus
Aristelliger is represented by a distinct species (with two subspecies)
on islands off the coast of Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula,
from San Andres to Cozumel (Hecht, 1951: fig. 8); the Phyllodactylus
of Half Moon Cav off the British Honduras coast has its closest affin-
ities with West Indian species and not with the common Phyllodac-
tylus of the British Honduras mainland (Dixon, 1960: 8-10).
Contrary to Stuart (1963: 65), the mainland population of Anolis
sagrei is not known to range southward into South America; the
southernmost acceptable record is for Punta Gorda, British Honduras.
For a discussion of this topic see Neill and Allen (1962: 80-81).

Anolis nannodes Cope

Fugler (1960: 11) added a Costa Rican and Panamanian species,
Anolis intermedius Peters, to the British Honduras herpetofaunal list
on the basis of a single specimen from Chiquibul Forest, Cayo Dis-
trict. The example was atypical and was found in a habitat not
characteristic of the species. Fugler held the specimen to extend the
known range of A. intermedius northward by about 500 miles. (Ac-
tually the British Honduras locality is nearly 600 miles northwest by
west of the nearest Costa Rican locality). I should like to offer a
different interpretation:
A single phylogenetic line with a notably discontinuous distribu-
tion is represented by Anolis intermedius in Costa Rica and Panama,
A. nannodes on the Caribbean slope of Guatemala, and A. laeviventris
(Wiegmann) in Mexico. A population of this line resident in the
Chiquibul Forest area would logically be closest to and most likely
conspecific with A. nannodes (including A. cortezi Stuart and A. stuarti
Smith and Taylor) which has been reported from Chiapas to Alta
Verapaz.
Basiliscus vittatus Wiegmann
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: MCZ 71417-19, 71421-36, 71440-
46, Gallon Jug or a half mile north thereof, 22-23 July 1962, on fences, trees,

On 29 October 1959, I saw what must have been thousands of
hatchling Basiliscus vittatus scampering bipedally across the road
from San Antonio to Punta Gorda along a stretch of about 15 miles
in Toledo District. The circumstance led me to suppose that the
species has a definite breeding season, most hatchlings appearing at
about the same time. The MCZ specimens to some extent bear this
out, as seven adult females contain large eggs. MCZ 71433, which
may have nearly completed oviposition when taken, contained but
one egg, on the left side. The others contained four to six eggs,
never more than two in the left oviduct. However, MCZ 71427, an
adult female, contained no eggs, and MCZ 71426 is a hatchling 38
mm. in snout-vent length, with a yolk scar. As the Gallon Jug series
includes non-oviferous and oviferous females as well as a hatchling,
the breeding season there is probably not extremely restricted.
MCZ 71460, an adult male, has a bright pinkish suffusion of the
venter. I have seen this suffusion in a few other adult males. Its
significance is unknown; it might develop at the peak of breeding
condition.
Maturana (1962) recently reviewed the species of Basiliscus, but
he was unfamiliar with the habits of B. vittatus. Contrary to his
statement, lizards of this species will skitter across the surface of the
water, and will also dive into the water and swim away. However
they rarely do either, for they are generally found on bushes over
land, though water is often nearby.
This supposedly arboreal species was extremely abundant in a
broad, treeless wet savanna about 4 miles southeast of San Antonio.
The habitat is so unusual as to merit illustration (Fig. 2). The Monath
party also took specimens in fields of high grass.
The striped basilisk takes alarm readily. This probably explains
why it is uncommon in Belize even though the city is well vegetated.
The species does take up residence about yards and buildings, but
mostly around isolated homesteads.
Very rarely is the striped basilisk found in vegetation at heights
of more than 20 feet, or on large trees at any height, or in dense

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forest with heavy shade, or in dry savanna. Captive individuals des-
sicate readily, and must be kept in a humid atmosphere if they are
to thrive.

Corytophanes cristatus (Merrem)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Toledo District: MCZ 71362, just west of San Miguel,
about 3 miles northeast of San Pedro Columbia, in thick rainforest.
The generic name Corytophanes Boie has generally been emended
to the etymologically correct Corythophanes. Article 32 of the Regles
Internationales de la Nomenclature Zoologique now prohibits emen-
dation to correct an error of transliteration. That "Corytophanes"
was an erroneous transliteration and not merely a typographical error
is shown by Boie's continued use of this spelling. See Smith and
Taylor (1950: 68-69) for further remarks on this topic.

Corytophanes hernandesii (Wiegmann)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: WTN 3949, Gallon Jug, on logging
road in forest.
Although known from El Peten, the species has not previously
been reported from British Honduras.

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Ctenosaura similis similis (Gray)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Belize District: MCZ 71393-98, Ambergris Cay, within
a 2-mile radius of San Pedro, 14 July 1962, in sand strand, coconut stands, or red
mangrove swamp. Stann Creek District: MCZ 71399, 4 miles north of Mango
Creek, at roadside; MCZ 71401-02, 71404, Mango Creek, on pine stump at edge
of town, or on lumber piles at sawmill; MCZ 71403, 1 mile west of Mango Creek,
in thick brush beside road.
MCZ 71393-95 are very young, ranging in snout-vent length from
53 to 56 mm. The recently healed yolk scar is distinct. These juve-
niles were found among dry fallen coconut fronds along the beach.

Sceloporus teapensis Giinther
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71363, vicinity of Baking Pot; MCZ
71364-69, Xunantunich, around ruins, or on logs bordering trail leading thereto;
MCZ 71370-80, Augustine, on rocks, burned tree stump, or fence posts. Stann
Creek District: MCZ 71382-83, Mango Creek, at sawmill. Toledo District: MCZ
71384-85, 2 miles west of Swasey Branch, along road; MCZ 71386-92, 4 miles
east of Swasey Branch, on lumber at abandoned sawmill.
The specimens from Toledo District extend the known distribution
about 30 miles southeastward in British Honduras.
Previously I suggested (Neill and Allen, 1959a: 68) that Sceloporus
teapensis and the rather similar S. chrysostictus Cope replace each
other temporally, having their respective peaks of activity at different
times of year. It is thus interesting to note that in July and August
the Monath party collected 28 teapensis at five localities, but no chry-
sostictus.
TEIIDAE
Ameiva festival edwardsi Bocourt
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Toledo District: MCZ 71606-07, 1 mile east of Swasey
Branch, in brush along fire control road.
In both specimens: outer row of ventral scutes reduced; one large
preanal scute; two rows of tibials; last sublabial divided into three
parts; a grayish-blue middorsal stripe, sinuous, from rostral to rump;
a dorsolateral light stripe broken into dashes; a lateral light stripe,
also broken; a few small, upright, bluish bars in and just behind the
axilla.
The only previous British Honduras records are for Stann Creek
District (Schmidt, 1941: 495).

mile north thereof, 21-23 July 1962, under house, on fence, in field of high grass
in town, or sunning on leaf litter in forest; MCZ 71618, Miss Marchand's Farm
at Orange Walk, 24 July 1962, by house. Belize District: MCZ 71611, Am-
bergris Cay, 2 miles north of San Pedro, in dry vegetation of sand strand behind
beach; WTN 1202, 13 miles west of Belize, 25 April 1960, in "oak island" of the
palm and pine savanna. Cayo District: MCZ 71619-21, Xunantunich, 29 July
1962, in brush or beside log along trail; MCZ 71622-24, Augustine, under boards
and sheet metal in yards; MCZ 71608-09, vicinity of Baking Pot. Stann Creek
District: MCZ 71625, 4 miles south of Waha Leaf Creek, in pile of dead wood
at edge of road; MCZ 71626, 5 miles southwest of Mango Creek, basking on fire
control road at midday; MCZ 71627-28, Mango Creek, basking on ground near
sawmill. Toledo District: MCZ 71629, 1 mile west of Swasey Branch, basking
beside road.
This material solves a problem to which I previously called at-
tention (Neill and Allen, 1961a: 49). WTN 1202, only 56 mm. in
snout-vent length, displayed no trace of lateral dark and light lines,
supposedly characteristic of all Ameiva undulata when young. In-
stead the specimen was olive dorsally and reddish-brown laterally.
The lizard exhibited the scale characters of the local population of
A. u. hartwegi, and I suggested that this color pattern, very conceal-
ing in the reptile's habitat, might characterize hartwegi juveniles in
British Honduras. It is now evident that this is indeed the case. A
slightly larger specimen, MCZ 71621, snout-vent length 66 mm., ex-
hibits the same pattern but with the addition of a single row of light
spots on the sides. MCC 71612, snout-vent length 79 mm., is pat-
terned like MCZ 71621 but the lateral light spots, about 14 or 15
in number, are more suggestive of a line. MCZ 71627 has a lateral
light line broken into spots only near the insertions, and shows a
trace of a second light line above the lateral stripe and a trace of a
third below it.
Apparently the ontogenetic change is from unstriped hatchling
to light-striped subadult to light-barred adult, but the rate at which
this change takes place varies. MCZ 71614, a female of 115 mm.
snout-vent length, displays no vertical light bars but only a lateral
light line broken into about 15 spots.
MCZ 71623-24 are notably aberrant. The first, 34 mm. in snout-
vent length and with a barely evident yolk scar, has four light lines
on each side. The other, also a juvenile, has three lines on each side.
The two are from Mountain Pine Ridge, an unusual area biotically.
The specimens from Corozal District in extreme northeastern Brit-
ish Honduras show an approach to Ameiva undulata gaigeae Smith
and Laufe. In MCZ 71610, a female 95 mm. in snout-vent length,
the central gular scales are but weakly and gradually enlarged; the

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upper lateral bars number about 15. MCZ 71611, a small male, has
weakly and gradually enlarged central gulars and about 13 or 14
upper lateral bars. In the Gallon Jug area of Orange Walk District
the central gulars tend to be somewhat more enlarged, though not
abruptly so, but the upper lateral bar count is still high and gaigeae-
like, 12 to 16, mode 15. Yet MCZ 71618, the only specimen from
Orange Walk, Orange Walk District, does not conform to expecta-
tion; the bars number 8 or 9 on one side, about 10 on the other. In
Cayo District the bars range from 8 to 13, the mode 9 or 10. The
examples from Toledo and Stann Creek Districts are young and have
not developed bars.
Specimens from the northern half of British Honduras thus sug-
gest that the transition from Ameiva undulata gaigeae to A. u. hart-
wegi is not smooth but exhibits some interdigitation.
MCZ 71615, an adult male from near Gallon Jug, shows a bright
pinkish-red suffusion on the edge of the gular fold, throat, chest,
anterior surfaces of the upper arm, and sublabial scales. This is true
also of MCZ 71618, an adult male from Orange Walk, and MCZ
71617, an adult male from Gallon Jug. However, MCZ 71616, a
somewhat smaller adult male from Gallon Jug, has a light yellow
suffusion of the gular and nearby regions; while MCZ 71620, an adult
male from Xunantunich, shows no gular suffusion. Lack of suffusion
in an adult male no doubt characterizes the non-breeding condition,
but it is not clear why breeding males should be both yellow-throated
and red-throated.
SCINCIDAE
Eumeces schwartzei Fischer
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: WTN 3783, Gallon Jug, in litter
at base of large tree beside clearing in mahogany forest.
Only one other specimen has been reported from British Honduras
(Schmidt, 1941: 496).

However, British Honduras specimens conform well to Taylor's (1956:
308) diagnosis of M. brachypoda, with the unimportant exception that
in young individuals the tips of the digits barely overlap when the
limbs are adpressed. MCZ 71409, snout-vent length 92.5 mm., is
larger than any of Taylor's examples.
I previously suggested that the two lygosomine skinks of British
Honduras, a Mabuya and a Lygosoma, have their respective peaks
of activity at different times of year (Neill and Allen, 1959a: 68). In
late July the Monath party took six Mabuya at two localities, but no
Lygosoma.
BOIDAE

Boa constrictor imperator Daudin
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: MCZ 71669, Gallon Jug, in tall
grass by building.
COLUBRIDAE
Scaphiodontophis annulatus annulatus (Dumeril and Bibron)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71679, vicinity of Baking Pot.
Black cap followed by a red area, then by a triad (two black bands
inclosing a brown one). Three other similar triads on neck, sepa-
rated by red interspaces. Scales of red interspaces with black spots.
Remainder of body brownish with five dotted dark lines; three zig-
zag lines on tail. Head mostly dark, the postocular dark mark not
distinct from head cap. Subocular dark marks extensive.
In pattern this specimen approaches Scaphiodontophis carpicinc-
tus Taylor and Smith. Alvarez del Toro and Smith (1958: 17) are
correct in suggesting that S. carpicinctus and S. annulatus are con-
specific, but more material is necessary to determine whether the
name carpicinctus may be retained for a subspecies of annulatus. If
carpicinctus proves to be a valid subspecies, it probably ranges no
farther south than Tikal, El Peten, Guatemala. The reference of all
British Honduras material to S. a. carpicinctus (Duellman, 1963: 246-
247) is not justified.
The species of Scaphiodontophis are remarkable for many stub-
tailed individuals. The condition was at first attributed to a disease
(Taylor and Smith, 1943: 304), but Taylor (1954: 686) found evidence
that S. venustissimus deliberately breaks its tail when restrained by
that appendage. In MCZ 71679 the tail tip is broken and healed
over.

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Clelia clelia (Daudin)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: WTN 955 (a skin), 6 miles south-southeast
of Cayo at base of Mountain Pine Ridge, on trail through hardwood forest, by
day.
WTN 955, a female, was 2471 mm. in total length before skinning.
The dorsal scales were completely black, without trace of darker tips.
The venter was white.
I have examined the peritoneum of most of the snakes known
from British Honduras. This is the only species found to have a
black pigmentation of the visceral peritoneum as well as of the pari-
etal peritoneum.

Coniophanes imperialis clavatus (Peters)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71670-71, vicinity of Baking Pot.
In both individuals: a dorsal dark stripe but vaguely indicated.
Lateral dark stripe wide, distinct its full length. Ventrally a sprink-
ling of dark dots extends from mental to about the 40th ventral scute.
A dorsolateral light stripe begins on snout, extends posteriorly onto
neck, and there vanishes. This stripe interrupted on posterior part of
head by a conspicuous light-centered and dark-bordered ocellus.
The two nuchal ocelli viewed from above resemble staring eyes.
Similar ocelli are also present in several other species of Coniophanes
and in some species of the related genus Urotheca (often called
Rhadinaea). Possibly these eye-like spots afford an example of de-
flective or "parasematic" coloration (Cott, 1940: 372), and serve to
"misdirect the attack of enemies by misrepresenting the posture of
their prey". "False eyes" are thought to have this function in other
groups of animals (cf. Clay, 1953).

Dryadophis melanolomus subspecies
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71672, vicinity of Baking Pot; WTN
2848, Augustine, 23 August 1963.
MCZ 71672 is an adult male. It has been somewhat darkened by
preservatives. Apparently it was grayish above, unicolor except for
a trace of black edging on most of the scales. Other adults from
British Honduras are similarly patterned.
Duellman (1963: 238-239) listed El Peten specimens as Dryadophis
melanolomus laevis (Fischer). British Honduras examples should be
referable to this same form, or to intergrades between D. m. laevis and
D. m. melanolomus (Cope). But the situation is complex, for Stuart

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(1941: 90-91, map 4) noted that British Honduras and El Peten speci-
mens are intermediate between D. m. melanolomus and D. m. alter-
natus (Bocourt), in spite of the geographic anomaly implicit in such
an arrangement. Also, D. m. laevis has a red phase (Stuart, op. cit.:
87), as does D. m. alternates (Neill and Allen, 1961a: 46; Neill, 1963:
204; Duellman, loc. cit.), but no reddish individual has been reported
in British Honduras.
The British Honduras population of Dryadophis melanolomus
may be a relict one associated with the geologically ancient Maya
Mountains uplift, just as D. m. laevis is associated with the Alta Vera-
paz uplands, and a more alternatus-like population with the Hondu-
ranean highlands.
WTN 2848 is a juvenile male, 382 mm. in total length. It probably
hatched in the month of collection, August; it thus bolsters previous
conclusions (Neill, 1962) regarding the reproductive cycle of most
snakes in British Honduras.
The pattern of the hatchling has not been described. In WTN
2848 the dorsum is marked with a row of bluish-gray transverse bands
separated by narrow grayish-white interspaces. The markings be-
come obscure posteriorly; about 40 spots can be counted on the an-
terior half of the body, while the tail and posterior portion of the
body are uniform grayish dorsally. Lateral stripes are not evident.
On the anterior two-thirds of the animal the ventral plates bear dark
lines or spots, one such marking on each outer end of a scute. The
black marking of a scute is rarely aligned with the marking of either
adjacent scute; rather the markings form a staggered pattern down
the ventrals. The ventral pattern becomes obscure on the posterior
third of the animal, and the under surface of the tail is whitish, un-
marked. The top of the head is dark, the chin and throat unspotted
yellowish-white. The supralabials are yellowish-white, each with a
dark spot toward the posterior border. A well-defined dark band
crosses the back of the head.

Drymarchon corais melanurus (Dumeril, Bibron, and Dumeril)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Belize District: WTN 956 (a skin), Belize, in black man-
grove forest.
The specimen is a male. Before skinning it measured 2790 mm.
in total length. So great a size has not been reported reliably for the
Floridian Drymarchon corais couperi (Holbrook), but is exceeded by
the South American D. c. corals (Boie). This is one of the few colu-
brid species in which the males grow longer than the females.

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Drymobius margaritiferus margaritiferus (Schlegel)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: MCZ 71644-45, just north of
Gallon Jug, 22 July 1962, under rock by sandstone cliff, or in rain puddle of cow
pasture. Cayo District: MCZ 71643, vicinity of Baking Pot; WTN 2765, Augus-
tine, 11 August 1963.
MCZ 71645 and WTN 2765 are hatchlings, respectively 308 and
301 mm. in total length. The collecting dates of these two are in
accord with a previous contention that the young of British Hon-
duras snakes generally appear around August, perhaps a little sooner
or later (Neill, 1962).
The pattern of the juvenile is much like that of the adult, but
the hatchling has narrow dark crossbands separated by still narrower
light interspaces on the anterior portion of the body. At a point about
two head-lengths behind the head this arrangement of dark and light
pigments changes and throughout the rest of the body each dorsal
scale is dark-bordered and light-centered. The juvenile pattern of
Drymobius is of interest, for juveniles of Dryadophis, Masticophis,
and Coluber (sensu strict) are also cross-banded anteriorly, further
evidence of a close relationship among these genera.

Elaphe flavirufa pardalina (Peters)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71673, vicinity of Baking Pot; WTN
2688, Augustine.
MCZ 71673 is a female; total length 603, tail length 134 mm.
About 40 blotches on body, 19 on tail. Dorsal spots separated from
ventral scutes by about 6 scale rows, these spots mostly fusing to form
a zigzag or sinuous line. Head pattern very distinct for this species.
Scale rows 29 at midbody; ventrals 255, subcaudals 115. First 8
dorsal scale rows smooth. Preoculars 2-1.
WTN 2688 is a female; total length 730, tail length 150 mm. About
40 blotches on body, 20 on tail. Dorsal spots separated from ven-
tral scutes by about 5 scale rows, these spots mostly fusing to form
a zigzag or sinuous line. Head pattern very distinct. Scale rows
29 at midbody; ventrals 262, subcaudals 111. First 6 dorsal scale
rows smooth. Preoculars 2-2. On one side of the head the loreal
divided vertically to form two shields.
According to Dowling (1952) Elaphe flavirufa is related to E. gut-
tata. A difference between these two species, not previously men-
tioned in the literature, is the great size of the flavirufa hatchling.
MCZ 71673 has a well defined umbilical scar on five ventral plates,
and could hardly have been more than about three weeks old when

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preserved. WTN 2688 has a fairly well defined umbilical scar on
four ventral plates. Evidently the size at hatching is about that of
hatchling Drymarchon corais couperi, one of the largest colubrids.
In contrast, the hatchlings of E. g. guttata are about 315 to 320 mm.
in total length, to judge from a Florida series in my collection. It
is not known whether the large size of the E. flavirufa hatchling in-
dicates a large adult size. No very large individual has been re-
ported.
Only one example of Elaphe flavirufa has previously been taken
in British Honduras, and it was reported from "Belize" at a time
when the whole country was called by this name.

DIAGNOSIS. Distinguished from Ficimia p. publia Cope by fea-
tures of pattern as follows: (1) Dorsum with squarish, black blotches,
these markings not light-centered, not light-edged, and usually not
fusing with the lateral dark markings; (2) ground color red or pinkish-
orange, in older specimens lightly suffused with brownish on some of
the lateral scales, but mostly bright and clear at least in the dorsal
interspaces; (3) lateral dark markings small and well separated; (4)
ventrolateral dark markings small, separated by about three to four
ventral scutes; (5) dark head markings including only a subocular
spot and an irregular, poorly defined patch on the crown. Distin-
guished from F. p. taylori Smith by the presence of a pair of inter-
nasals and of two postoculars, as well as by details of color and
pattern.
DESCRIPTION OF TYPE. Total length 461, tail length 66 mm.
Dorsal scale rows 17. Ventrals 139; anal divided; subcaudals 37,
paired; tail terminating in a blunt spine. Rostral in contact with
frontal; internasals present. Supralabials seven, the third and fourth
subocular, the first fused with the nasal. Infralabials seven. Post-
oculars two.
Ground color (in preservative) pinkish, weakly suffused with gray-
ish-brown on some of the lateral scales, but the dorsal interspaces
mostly clear. Blotches on dorsum of body 23, mostly squarish in out-
line, mostly terminating laterally on scale row V; the blotches black,
faintly lightened toward the center. Dorsal blotches about four scales
long on the dorsal midline; interspaces two to three scales long.
Sides with short, dark streaks, coinciding with or alternating with
the dorsal blotches. Small ventrolateral dark spots, separated by
three to four ventral scutes. Remainder of venter white. Tail with
eight black blotches above, white below. Top of head with vague
grayish area; a dark subocular mark.
VARIATION. Additional specimens are as follows:
Orange Walk District: MCZ 71667, Gallon Jug, in high grass beside road, by
day; WTN 2852, Gallon Jug, 23 August 1963, on logging road in morning; CNHM
69232, Gallon Jug (see Neill and Allen, 1961a: 46). Cayo District: MCZ 71666,
vicinity of Baking Pot.
These specimens and the type are consistent in scutellation and
pattern. In three females the ventrals range from 139 to 144, the
subcaudals 33 to 37. In two males the ventrals are respectively 137
and 140, the subcaudals 37 and 40. In the entire lot the dorsal
blotches vary in number from 23 to 26 on the body, 7 to 9 on the tail.
The low number of dorsal body blotches may prove diagnostic when

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more is learned about variation in all parts of the species' range.
The dorsal blotches may be wholly black, or may be slightly lightened
to a sepia toward the center. The dorsal ground color may be clear
or suffused laterally with brownish. The dark patch on the crown
varies from indistinct to fairly distinct, but is always irregular and
less distinct than a body spot.
REMARKS. Smith and Taylor (1941: 363) noted that differentia-
tion in the genus Ficimia was accomplished largely through modifica-
tion of the color pattern. They indicated the probability that F.
publia would eventually be partitioned on color characters, drawing
special attention to the squarish black blotches, obscure head pattern,
and reduced lateral markings of more southerly (Honduranean) speci-
mens.
An adult (UF 13825) from Tikal, El Peten, Guatemala, exhibits
the characters of the new form. Smith and Taylor (supra cit.) de-
scribed wolffsohni-like specimens from La Ceiba, Honduras, and one
from Piedras Negras, El Peten.
The new subspecies is the Ficimia of damp, well forested areas at
the base of the Yucatan Peninsula. This population is probably a
primitive one, and ancestral to F. p. publia (type locality Yucatan)
which inhabits the relatively arid and geologically younger peninsula
proper. The Veracrucian F. p. taylori is more highly specialized than
either publia or wolffsohni, having lost the internasals and one post-
ocular.
Among snakes generally the juvenile pattern is apt to be primi-
tive and to afford a clue as to the direction of relationships. It is
not known whether the hatchling of Ficimia p. publia is more wolff-
sohni-like than the adult, but the juvenile of wolffsohni shows no ap-
proach toward F. p. publia. WTN 2852, a hatchling, displays the
wolffsohni pattern. The dorsal blotches are deep black without a
trace of central lightening; the ground color is clear pinkish; a mark-
ing on the crown is asymmetric and not sharply defined.
In British Honduras Ficimia publia wolfsohni is vernacularly
known as "barber pole" in allusion to its bright red and black color-
ation. The name is applied to the coral snakes, Micrurus, and their
supposed mimics.
The new subspecies is named for Anthony Wolffsohn, Assistant
Conservator of Forests in British Honduras, the first to discover the
presence of Ficimia publia in that country.
I illustrate a logging road of the Gallon Jug area (Fig. 4), for such
roads yielded not only Ficimia publia but many other species dis-
cussed in this paper.

WTN 2853 is a hatchling 322 mm. in total length. The umbilical
scar is fairly distinct on five ventral scutes. MCZ 71675 is a juvenile
419 mm. in total length, with umbilical scar barely evident on three
ventral scutes. It is tagged with the date 21 August. These speci-

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mens accord with evidence that the young of British Honduras
snakes mostly appear around August.

Leptophis mexicanus mexicanus Dumeril, Bibron, and Dumeril
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: MCZ 71649-50, Gallon Jug, in
tall trees by houses. Stann Creek District: MCZ 71651, Mango Creek, in lum-
ber pile at sawmill.
In MCZ 71649, an adult female, the lateral dark stripe on the
posterior third of the body occupies the upper half of scale row II
and the lower half of III; ventrals number 161, subcaudals 160. In
MCZ 71650, also an adult female, the lateral dark stripe is as in MCZ
71649; ventrals 164, subcaudals 154. In MCZ 71651, an adult male,
the lateral dark stripe on the posterior third of the body occupies
only the upper half of scale row II; ventrals 159, subcaudals 165. In
all three snakes the head is greenish-blue, the body bronze, the lateral
stripe black with blue areas. When the stratum corneum is peeled
off, the bronze becomes pale blue-green, the black a medium blue.
All three examples are referable to the subspecies Leptophis m. mex-
icanus; they show no approach toward L. m. yucatanensis Oliver, the
characters of which were duplicated in a specimen from Mountain
Pine Ridge, Cayo District (Neill and Allen, 1962: 86-87).

(M. affinis "alienus"), the Ninia shows comparable or even greater re-
duction of the black markings. Elsewhere I have mentioned this sit-
uation briefly (Neill, 1963: 206, 211), but without citing specimens.
Of the present series, all those from Toledo District south of the up-
lift are crossbanded the full length of the body; those from Belize
and Cayo Districts north of the uplift display slight (two examples)
or great (ten examples) reduction of the black bands posteriorly.

Oxybelis aeneus aeneus (Wagler)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71652, vicinity of Baking Pot.
The eye diameter is 4.2, the internasal length 4.0 mm. Accord-
ingly, the specimen is referred to the nominate subspecies, the only
one so far noted in British Honduras.

Oxybelis fulgidus (Daudin)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71653, vicinity of Baking Pot.
The species is usually described as being green with a white lat-
eral stripe (Schmidt and Inger, 1957: 216). In life, however, only the
dorsum is green; the sides and venter are sky blue; the lateral stripe
is bright yellow anteriorly, becoming white posteriorly; the supra-
labials are pale yellowish-green, the iris reddish.
Although these reptiles are primarily arboreal, they were several
times seen on the ground in Toledo District.
A specimen from Belize fed on anoles in captivity.

Oxyrhopus petola aequifasciatus Werner
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71678, vicinity of Baking Pot; WTN
2854, Augustine.
MCZ 71678 is a small female. Ventrals 200; subcaudals 77, di-
vided. Scale rows 19-17. Supralabials 8. Preocular barely separated
from frontal. Body with 23 black and 23 red crossbands. Black
bands about six scales long on anterior part of body, about five on
posterior part. About eight of the black bands somewhat diagonal,
but the general impression is of regularly transverse banding. Red
scales with a trace of brownish (not black) edging. Yellow nuchal
collar about three scales long, but narrowing to one scale at the dor-
sal midline. Black dorsal bands barely tinging the ends of the ventral
scutes, which are otherwise white. Tail with 11 black and 10 red
crossbands, the black ones continued as grayish markings across the
under side of the tail.

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WTN 2854 is a larger female, 675 mm. in total length. Ventrals
206; subcaudals 80, divided. Scale rows 19-17. Supralabials 8; but
two tiny scales, one above the other, interposed between the rostral
and the first supralabial, on the left side of the head only. Preocular
well separated from frontal. Body with 20 black and 20 red cross-
bands. Black bands about seven scales long on anterior part of body,
about five on posterior part. About six of the black bands somewhat
diagonal, but the general impression is of regularly transverse band-
ing. Most red scales black-tipped. Yellow nuchal collar about two
and a half scales long, but narrowing to one scale at the dorsal mid-
line. Black dorsal bands barely tinging the ends of the ventral scutes;
toward the posterior part of the body, the red dorsal ground color
separated from the light ventral color by small grayish spots, one such
spot on each end of a ventral scute. Venter of body otherwise whitish,
unmarked. Tail with 10 black and 9 red crossbands; the red bands
barely tinging the ends of the subcaudals, but the black ones continu-
ing across the under side of the tail, where the dark pigment is con-
centrated mainly at the bases of the subcaudal scutes.
Only one other specimen has been reported previously from Brit-
ish Honduras. Like it, the present two show an approach toward
Oxyrhopus bailey (Smith) which I have previously suggested is but
a subspecies of 0. petola (Neill and Allen, 1959a: 55-56); Duellman
(1963: 246) later expressed the same view.
WTN 2854 had recently swallowed a large mouse. The mammal
measured about 75 mm. from snout to rump and 170 mm. in total
length.
Sibon nebulata nebulata (Linnaeus)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71680, vicinity of Baking Pot.
A juvenile male, total length 294 mm. About 47 black dorsal
spots, only the nuchal one enlarged; about 30 spots on tail.
The species has not previously been reported from British Hon-
duras.
Spilotes pullatus mexicanus (Laurenti)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71681, vicinity of Baking Pot.
This specimen may be a full-term embryo removed from the egg.
Total length 477 mm. It has 29 dark crossbands on the body, well
defined except toward the neck, and 14 well defined dark bands on
the tail. This juvenile pattern is quite different from the adult pat-
tern figured elsewhere (Neill and Allen, 1960: 152-153).

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Stenorrhina freminvillei Dumeril, Bibron, and Dumeril
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: WTN 2855, Augustine, 23 August 1963.
The specimen is a hatchling, 159 mm. in total length. The pat-
tern consists of five sharply defined narrow black lines on a gray back-
ground.
I have suggested that Stenorrhina freminvillei exhibits polymor-
phic pattern alternatives, red vs. gray, and also the alternatives lined
vs. unlined (Neill, 1963: 204, 206). Stuart (1963: 117) recently empha-
sized the variation that may obtain at one locality, and formally syn-
onymized all previously recognized races of this species. As un-
lined specimens seem concentrated toward the northern part of the
species' range, it may yet prove desirable to recognize subspecies of
S. freminvillei, but for the present I follow Stuart.

Thamnophis proximus rutiloris (Cope)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Belize District: WTN 684, Belize, by weed-choked pool
in town; WTN 949, 20 miles west by south of Belize, under log in pine savanna;
WTN 1972, Maskalls, on grassy riverbank. Stann Creek District: MCZ 71646,
just northwest of Mango Creek, at pond. Toledo District: MCZ 71647, 4 miles
east of Bladen Branch, in swampy area of pine savanna.
All British Honduras records of this species are from a savanna
belt that stretches from northeastern Orange Walk District south-
ward into northeastern Toledo District.

Tropidodipsas sartorii sartorii Cope
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71682, vicinity of Baking Pot.
Adult male; ventrals 173, subcaudals 58. Scale rows 17-17. Body
with 20 black crossbands separated by light ones, the latter not com-
plete across the black venter. A light band across back of head;
head otherwise black. Tail with 6 black bands separated by light
ones. A small unpaired median scale just in advance of and in con-
tact with the frontal.
Only one other specimen of Tropidodipsas sartorii has previously
been reported from British Honduras (Neill and Allen, 1961b: 97).
The trivial name has often been emended to sartori which is incor-
rect because the name honors Sartorius.

Body with 14 hourglass-shaped dark crossbands; three dark bars
on tail.
A living adult from British Honduras has been figured (Neill,
1960b: fig. 3). The pattern, especially in the juvenile, is strikingly
reminiscent of that of a fer-de-lance, Bothrops atrox.

ELAPIDAE
Micrurus affinis hippocrepis (Peters)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71676-77, vicinity of Baking Pot.
Schmidt (1933: 36) described the British Honduras coral snake as
Micrurus affinis stantoni, but later (1936: 212) decided it should be
called M. affinis alienus (Werner). Both names were based on speci-
mens in which the black rings were reduced to dorsal blotches. The
two present examples show no such reduction. The evidence indi-
cates that this reduction is but a pattern variant; it appears in only
one out of nine British Honduras coral snakes I have examined. The
variant also occurs in the closely related M. fulvius (Neill, 1963: 206,
209-210, fig. 4). As I noted previously (Neill and Allen, 1959a: 57)
ringed examples from British Honduras agree with Schmidt's defi-
nition of M. a. hippocrepis (Peters), an older name than aliens.
Stuart (1963: 126) agrees that alienus is probably identical with hip-
pocrepis, and further suggests that both of these may be identical
with M. affinis aglaeope (Cope), an older name than hippocrepis.

Micrurus nigrocinctus divaricatus (Hallowell)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: WTN 2856, Gallon Jug, on log-
ging road by day.
Schmidt (1941: 508) mentioned but did not identify a British
Honduras coral snake with supra-anal tubercles, from "Corozal Is-
land." Previously I suggested that this locality might be Corosalito,
or Isla Corozal, on the Rio Hondo in Orange Walk District, and that
the snake might be Micrurus nigrocinctus, although at that time this
species was not known definitely to range so far east (Neill and Allen,
1959a: 57-58). Gallon Jug, the collecting station for WTN 2856, is
about 30 miles southwest by south of Isla Corozal, and in the Rio
Hondo drainage.
The specimen is a female; total length 317, tail length 47 mm.
Dorsal scale rows 15; ventrals 212, subcaudals 49. Black rings 10
on body, these rings 5/2 to 8 scales long. Each black ring with yellow
borders, each yellow ring about 2/2 scales long. Scales of red inter-

BULLETIN FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM

spaces uniformly tipped with black, but no other black pigment in
the red areas. Tail with 4 black rings separated by yellow inter-
spaces. All rings complete and regularly transverse. Snout com-
pletely black; a yellow band across back of head extending anteriorly
to posterior margin of eye.
The specimen is tentatively referred to the subspecies Micrurus
nigrocinctus divaricatus (Hallowell), previously known from north-
eastern Nicaragua, northern Honduras, and the lowlands of eastern
Guatemala (Schmidt, 1933: 34). It agrees with divaricatus in ventral
count and in having wide yellow rings, but disagrees in having a
high subcaudal count and in the distribution of black pigment in the
red zones, as well as in having a low number of black rings. It
shows no approach to M. n. zunilensis Schmidt, the only subspecies
included in the Guatemalan list by Stuart (1963: 127).

CROTALIDAE

Bothrops atrox (Linnaeus)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: MCZ 71664, 8 miles southwest
of Gallon Jug, in mahogany forest under fallen tree. Cayo District: MCZ 71663,
vicinity of Baking Pot.
MCZ 71664 is an adult female, total length about 1760, tail length
223 mm. Ground color grayish-brown; body with about 25 brown-
ish-black crossbands outlined brightly with yellow. Tail with 9
crossbands on the proximal part and 10 or 12 irregular, narrow bands
on the distal part. Lateral markings of the body between the cross-
bands indistinct. Venter heavily mottled with brownish-black on
an ivory ground.
Some recent workers have referred to the fer-de-lance of Guate-
mala and nearby regions as Bothrops atrox asper (Garman), appar-
ently assuming that the population of Mexico and Central America
is subspecifically different from that of South America. The name
asper Garman (1888: 124) was proposed on the basis of a supposed
difference in the carination of the dorsal scales, a dubious taxonomic
character at best. Amaral (1954: 214) found asper to be unrecognize-
able.
More significantly, the type locality of asper is Obispo, Isthmus
of Darien, Panama, near the Colombian border. The Panamanian
snake fauna as a whole is strongly South American in affinity (see list
in Smith, 1958); and if the species can be partitioned into Central
American and South American moieties, the Obispo population will
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the type locality of B. atrox (Linnaeus), originally given as "Asia,"
was subsequently designated as Surinam in northern South America
(Schmidt and Walker, 1943: 295), and the designation has met with
general acceptance. Thus, use of the name asper for the British Hon-
duras Bothrops atrox would be possible only if the species underwent
a subspecific change between Surinam and northwestern Colombia,
and none between Colombia and northern Central America.

Bothrops nasutus Bocourt
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: WTN 2707, Xunantunich, beside trail
to ruins.
Only one example of a hog-nosed viper has been recorded previ-
ously from British Honduras (Schmidt, 1941: 509). It was reported
at a time when little was known of variation and distribution in this
group of pit-vipers. On geographic grounds Schmidt assigned the
specimen to Bothrops yucatanicus (Smith). It is now known that the
hog-nosed viper of forested areas in British Honduras and El Peten
is B. nasutus. B. yucatanicus seems confined to the arid outer part
of the Yucatan Peninsula.
Schmidt's example was listed as from Benque Viejo, Cayo District.
It may actually have been from the nearby Mayan ruins of Xunan-
tunich, for these have generally been called Benque Viejo in the
archeological and popular literature. The ruins lie atop a high,
wooded hill, about two miles north by east of the village of Benque
Viejo and one mile west of Succoths.
WTN 2707 is a young male, total length 341, tail length 44 mm.
Rostral height 5 mm.; rostral width 2.5 mm. at the gape, narrowing
to 1.6 mm. Body with 17 crossbands, these markings dark at the
edges but lightened centrally. A narrow whitish line following the
keels of the vertebral scale row splits each dorsal band into right
and left components; these components mostly not aligned but
slightly offset. Venter heavily stippled with grayish-brown, the pig-
ment concentrated toward the free edge of each ventral scute. Chin,
throat, and infralabials blackish, with four white streaks extending
downward from the gape on each side of the head. A dark sub-
ocular spot, white-bordered anteriorly and posteriorly; a grayish-
white line extending along the last four supralabials. Top of head
with a dark, sagittate marking, the point directed anteriorly.
In a review of the caudal lure among snakes (Neill, 1960a), I had
no data on the color of the tail in juveniles of any hog-nosed viper.
In WTN 2707 the appendage is muscular. Two dark crossbands

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resembling the body bands occupy the proximal half of the tail, but
the distal half is yellowish-white, and the terminal scute is tipped
with brown. The appendage resembles the tails of the juvenile pit-
vipers that carry on luring.

Bothrops nummifer nummifer (Riippel)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71665, vicinity of Baking Pot.
A young specimen, tail tip yellow. About 20 dorsal spots, 5 of
them discrete but the others fusing longitudinally to form a zigzag
pattern down the back. The discrete dorsal spots about 4 to 5 scales
long. About 12 dorsal spots fused with the lateral spots on one side
of the body, about 5 so fused on the other side. Postocular dark
stripe extending diagonally downward in a straight line to a point
well below the level of the rictus. Two nasorostral scales on one
side, 3 on the other. Lower preocular absent.
Stuart (1963: 128, 130-131) has recognized a subspecies inhabiting
the Pacific slope of Central America, Bothrops nummifer affinis Bo-
court, characterized by small, round lateral spots that do not fuse
with the dosal markings. The population on the Caribbean slope
thus becomes B. n. nummifer. This arrangement has more to recom-
mend it than previous ones. In British Honduras examples the lat-
eral spots mostly form upright bars that fuse with the dorsal spots.

CROCODYLIDAE
Crocodylus moreleti Dumeril and Dumeril
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Cayo District: MCZ 71630-31, vicinity of Baking Pot.
The specimens are heads only, of young examples.
Mook (1959) based Crocodylus moreleti barnumbrowni on a
single incomplete left maxillary bone, thought to be of Pleistocene
age, from "Treasure Island, Guatemala," somewhere in El Pet6n.
He compared the fossil maxillary, that of a large adult, only with
Schmidt's (1924) illustrations of the skull of a single juvenile moreleti.
The premaxillo-maxillary suture of the fossil indeed associates the
specimen with Crocodylus moreleti, not with Crocodylus acutus Cu-
vier which also inhabits El Peten. Mook distinguished the fossil
from modern Crocodylus moreleti by two supposed diagnostic fea-
tures: First, the width of the maxillary plate, between the palatine
fenestra and the 10th and 11th maxillary alveoli, was variable (wider
anteriorly) in the fossil, uniform in the modern skull. This difference
reflects only a slight difference in the level at which the external mar-

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gin of the palatine fenestra begins turning inward to form the anterior
margin of the opening. Mook stated that the fenestra must not have
extended as far forward in the fossil as in the modern skull, yet also
stated that in the fossil the opening extended at least as far forward
as the level of the posterior border of the 8th maxillary alveolus. These
interpretations are contradictory, as in the modern skull the fenestra
extends anteriorly only to the level of the posterior border of the 9th
maxillary alveolus. Actually only a small part of the fenestral border
was preserved, and accurate interpretation of fenestral shape is im-
possible.
The other diagnostic character of the fossil was the angular ex-
ternal border of the maxillary bone, which did not appear in the
modern skull he compared it with. This, as mentioned above, was
a small one. Individuals of the modern population comparable to
the fossil in size commonly exhibit an angular exterior border of the
maxillary bone, as shown in Figure 5, a living adult of Crocodylus
moreleti from Orange Walk District. Thus I consider Crocody-
lus moreleti barnumbrowni Mook a synonym of C. moreleti Dumeril
and Dumeril.
EMYDIDAE

Geoemyda areolata (Dumeril and Bibron)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: MCZ 71632, 8 miles north of
Gallon Jug, 20 July 1962, in rain puddle of logging road; MCZ 71633, 1 mile
north of Gallon Jug, on logging road bordered by rainforest.
MCZ 71632 is a juvenile, carapace length 64 mm. It is interest-
ing to note its occurrence in a rainwater pool, for the adults are ter-
restrial.
MCZ 71633, a medium-sized adult, has a tick attached to the
seam between the fourth marginal and first lateral on the right side.
Schmidt (1946: 8) called attention to the turtle-shell ticks that parasi-
tize Geoemyda.

Pseudemys scripta ornata (Gray)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Stann Creek District: MCZ 71641, 3 miles south of
Waha Leaf Creek, in roadside rain pool; MCZ 71642, 2 miles south of Waha
Leaf Creek, in puddle of pine savanna.
I follow Williams (1956) in considering this turtle to be a sub-
species of Pseudemys script.

KINOSTERNIDAE
Kinosternon acutum Gray
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: WTN 2858, Gallon Jug.
The present concept of this species is based largely upon Mexican
material. Smith and Taylor (1950: 23) restricted the type locality
to Cosamaloapam, Veracruz. Schmidt (1941: 488) included Kinoster-
non acutum in the herpetofaunal list for British Honduras, but no ac-
tual specimen has previously been reported from there. When Gray
(1831: 34) described this species he did not know the type's source,
but thought it might have been from either Honduras or South Amer-
ica. Stejneger (1941: 458) supposed Honduras to have been more
likely because F. Siebenrock had seen material from El Peten.
Schmidt (supra cit.) then assumed that by "Honduras," Stejneger
meant British Honduras.
WTN 2858 is shown in Fig. 6. The species is discussed further
in connection with the description of a new Kinosternon below.

Kinosternon cruentatum cruentatum Dumeril and Bibron
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Stann Creek District: MCZ 71639-40, Mango Creek, in
mud puddle.
In both specimens the anterior lobe of the plastron is decidedly
longer than the fixed portion. The color of the light head markings
in life cannot be determined as the preservatives have bleached them.
Belize is the only other definite locality known for the species
in British Honduras (Schmidt, 1941: 488).

Kinosternon leucostomum Dumeril and Bibron
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Orange Walk District: MCZ 71634, Gallon Jug, found
at night. Stann Creek District: MCZ 71636, 3 miles south of Waha Leaf Creek,
in roadside ditch. Toledo District: MCZ 71637-38, Swasey Branch, swimming
in stream.
MCZ 71634, an adult male, shows three small eroded areas near
the midventral line of the plastron. Such areas have been reported
in other species of the genus, but what causes them is unknown. In
Kinosternon subrubrum the holes are sometimes infested with dip-
teran larvae, but these might be secondary invaders.

DIAGNOSIS. A mud turtle resembling Kinosternon leucostomum
in size and general conformation, also in that the carapace bears a
single longitudinal keel, and that the moveable anterior lobe of the
plastron is decidedly longer than the fixed mid-portion of the plas-
tron. Differing from K. leucostomum in that (1) the gular is much
larger and longer, its length exceeding one-half the length of the an-
terior lobe of the plastron; (2) the axillary scute is separated from the
inguinal; (3) the head in both juvenile and adult is a clear, light yel-
lowish-brown with a sharply defined black postorbital stripe and a
sharply defined sagittate figure on the crown; and (4) the hands and
feet are proportionately much smaller.
The new species seems less closely related to Kinosternon acutum
in which the anterior lobe of the plastron is shorter than the fixed
midportion and the head pattern of the adult is reticulate. K. acutum
also has a more flattened carapace than K. mopanum.
Comparison might also be made with Kinosternon creaseri Hart-
weg, supposedly a vicariant of K. acutum in YucatAn and Quintana
Roo. Unlike K. creaseri the new species has a small head and a
weakly developed beak, as well as axillary-inguinal separation. The
head markings of K. creaseri are whitish flecks on a blackish ground.
Kinosternon cruentatum is not closely related to any of the above-
mentioned species; its carapace bears three longitudinal keels and it
has a blood-red or bright yellow postorbital streak.
DESCRIPTION OF TYPE. Carapace length 102, width 67.4, height

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about 39 mm. Carapace but slightly elevated posteriorly, and with
a single low median keel. No trace of lateral keels. Laminae of cara-
pace with concentric growth rings. First nine supramarginals thick-
ened. Plastron large, filling the carapace. Plastron length 93 mm.
Gular length 17 mm. Length of moveable anterior lobe of plastron
32.3 mm. Length of fixed midportion of plastron 22 mm. Hind
lobe of plastron obtusely rounded posteriorly, not notched or emar-
ginate. Axillary scute separated from inguinal scute by 2 mm. on
right side, 3 mm. on left. Head length to posterior margin of tym-
panum 22.7, head width 19 mm. Tail minute, terminating in a needle-
like spine.
Carapace black. Plastron, axillary and inguinal scutes, and un-
der side of marginals yellowish-brown, the laminae black-bordered.
Exposed portions of limbs black above, whitish below. Head clear
yellowish-brown; a black triangle on the crown, the point directed
anteriorly, the base extending back onto neck and fading posteriorly.
Black speckling on top of snout. A black stripe beginning at the pos-
terior margin of the orbit and extending posteriorly through the tym-
panum, thence continuing along the sides of the neck as three or
four narrow rows of black flecks and dashes. Horny beak clear
yellowish-white. A short, black median line on the throat beginning
behind the horny beak and extending posteriorly between the chin
barbels.
VARIATION. Additional specimens are as follows:
Toledo District: WTN 3961, Machaca Creek Forestry Station, 9 miles northwest
of Punta Gorda, 28 October 1959, collected by Wilfred T. Neill, Ross Allen, and
Thomas C. Allen, under log by day, in wet, grassy seepage area on hill; WTN
3962, same collecting data as WTN 3961, climbing up clay bank of a small
stream, by day.
WTN 3962 is an adult female. It is slightly smaller than the type
and does not differ significantly from it. WTN 3961 is a juvenile
36.3 mm. in carapace length. The anterior lobe of the plastron has
not attained moveability. The axillary scute is well separated from
the inguinal on each side. The carapace bears no trace of lateral
keels; a low median keel is present. The head pattern is much as
in the adults except that dark stripes on the neck are more numerous
and better defined. The shell above and below is colored as in the
adults except that there is a small, poorly defined, yellowish-brown
spot at the outer edge of the upper surface of each marginal, and
that faint brownish spots are sprinkled over the plastron, bridge
shields, and the under surface of the marginals.

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NEILL: REPTILES FROM BRITISH HONDURAS

REMARKS. The head pattern of Kinosternon mopanum is present
in juveniles of several other species of the genus, and may be a primi-
tive character.
The Machaca Creek area is mostly forested. Waha Leaf Creek
arises in a stretch of forest that is continuous with the forest of the
Machaca Creek locality. Although Waha Leaf Creek cuts through a
coastal savanna belt on its way to Placentia Lagoon, the stream banks
are forested.
In the type the seams of the carapace were impacted with reddish
clay. Evidently the reptile had been burrowing in mud.
The name "mopanum" alludes to the Mopan Maya, an Indian
group living south of the Maya Mountains uplift in Toledo District.

Staurotypus triporcatus (Wiegmann)
MATERIAL EXAMINED. Belize District: WTN 2860, Belize River near Boom.
The specimen is a male, carapace length 267 mm. In life the
jaws were dull greenish-black with vague upright streaks of yellow-
ish, these streaks better defined on the upper jaw. The head was
reticulated with greenish-black and yellow. The carapace was dark
brown; a few darker streaks and spots could be made out.
Staurotypus triporcatus is generally considered a species of the
Caribbean drainage, replaced by S. salvini Gray on the Pacific slope.
I referred turtles of the Belize River drainage to S. salvini (Neill and
Allen, 1959a: 28) on the basis of three shells without soft parts or
laminae, compared only with the confused literature relating to
this genus. Stuart (1963: 49) has recently diagnosed the Caribbean
and Pacific species by color characters. WTN 2860 is somewhat
intermediate between the two, although closer to Staurotypus tripor-
catus. Pending a revision of the genus, it seems better to use tripor-
catus for all British Honduras material.

CHECKLIST

Although a detailed herpetology of British Honduras is in prepa-
ration, it may be useful now to list the amphibians and reptiles so
far discovered in that country. Additions to the list will doubtless
be made, and several taxonomic changes are to be expected. A few
species or subspecies have been reported from British Honduras but
not in convincing fashion; the names of these forms are placed in
brackets in the following list.

The above British Honduras list includes 2 salamanders, 23
frogs, 39 lizards, 51 snakes, 2 crocodilians, and 14 turtles, a total of
131 species and subspecies, as compared with Schmidt's 1941 total of
98 for this country.
British Honduras measures 174 miles from north to south and
not over 70 miles in greatest width. Its herpetofauna is moderately
large and notably diverse for so small an area; it includes not only
some widespread Mexican and Central American species but also
West Indian and Yucatan Peninsular forms, as well as a number of
endemics associated with the Maya Mountains uplift.

Dixon, James R.
1960. The discovery of Phyllodactylus tuberculosus (Reptilia: Sauria) in Cen-
tral America, the resurrection of P. xanti, and description of a new
gecko from British Honduras. Herpetologica, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 1-11.

Fig. 8. Map of British Honduras, showing localities mentioned in the
text.

130

Vol. 9

0

o0

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